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Sunday, February 3, 2013

A Bit of a Jamboree

Trey Smith

I hope many of you have been enjoying the focus on protest music in the Afternoon Matinee series (and yes, I do know that title is redundant). I began this endeavor on December 17 and I'm still going strong. I continue to enjoy doing the research and there are scads more songs I haven't discovered yet.

I have been working hard to offer readers a wide diversity of music genres. I grew up in the folk protest period in the 1960s and, originally, I planned only to feature protest songs from that era. However, after I began work on this project, I discovered that protest music didn't die off like I thought. A lot of singers and bands have continued the tradition up to the current time.

I am sure that the main reason that I thought protest songs predominantly had died out is that there aren't a lot of popular folk singers around these days. It seems that many punk bands have taken up the cause and, truth be known, I don't generally listen to punk music. As I delved into that genre, I began to discover that hip hop and rap artists have contributed a lot of protest music too. I've featured a bit of reggae and other genres that I am less familiar with.

Just as the spoken and written can inspire people, music can too. And that's what this little project is all about: Inspiring you to make a difference in your own way.